


our beginning

by polarsun



Series: Demon Hunter AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, check out instagram for the illustrations, dam those bara tiddies, demon hunter AU, keiji is stressed, me too, the ships arent at the forefront but its supposed to be there, theyre like in a high school, tooru and wakatoshi have problems, tooru thinks hajime is pretty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-11-18 18:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11295933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polarsun/pseuds/polarsun
Summary: Tooru is a new student at a new school to become the best possible fighter he can be. All he needs to do is find and befriend the three additional members, but they prove to be a little more eccentric than Tooru was expecting. That's fine-as long as they can work together.





	1. Komorebi

**Author's Note:**

> So this the first work for mine and Casey's demon hunter au!!! I plan on having a bunch for this au, with the "origin stories" for the groups being a collection, and then I'll write some more in the modern day (when they're around 18) once these first four are done. This work can also be read on it's own if you don't want to read the next three chapters!  
> Enjoy!

The first day of school wasn’t full of classes or lectures or meeting the various teachers and their various subjects. That was saved for after the introductions and formation of the teams. Studying, and practicing, demon slaying required for a group of four to take on the challenge. Even if it was to go defeat the weakest rank of 1, a group of four was supposed to go and dispel the evil that was permeating in the assigned area. These groups were assigned in the earliest days of the academy, usually at age fourteen, and never disbanded unless someone was killed or critically injured. Someone was always able to take the place of a fallen slayer, so the disbanding was never for long.

Groups consisted of a witch to serve as the healer, two fighters, and a strategist. Tooru would be a fighter. He traveled from his far away village to perform rigorous entrance exams and this was the day. The day he had always waited for. To stride through the tall doors and make a name for himself as a fighter.

Tooru knew deep down that proving himself as a fighter and not one of the other roles was going to be difficult. When he was young and full of dreams that glittered in his eyes, those in the village shook him off with an eye roll or a simple dismissal of: “you’re not cut out to be a fighter, honey. Let Wakatoshi take care of those things. Be a strategist instead.”

The stars in his eyes always grew a little dimmer when he was told he was weak or incompetent compared to Wakatoshi, who was practically god-like in the eyes of everyone in their village. No matter, Tooru decided, and he trained from when the sun peaked over the horizon to when the sky was lit with the stars that reflected in Tooru’s eyes. He would never be Wakatoshi, and he would never have the same raw talent that the younger boy, but that never stopped Tooru. He worked and worked until he was able to confidently walk to where he was now with no second guesses or regrets.

Hopefully his team was a confident as he was. The other three names were unfamiliar, but the name tags they were all giving upon entering the school would make finding his new teammates in a sea of faces much easier. Iwaizumi, Matsukawa, and Hanamaki. These would be the three boys that Tooru would spend three years training with. Memorizing their names quickly would be beneficial.

After taking a moment to make sure the names were burned into memory, Tooru took a step away from the bulletin boards in search of his new teammates. Unknown faces surrounded him and if it wasn’t for his own height, Tooru was sure that he would’ve been lost in the crowd and carried away like the surrounding people were the tide itself. 

This was the first day, and there was no way in hell that Tooru was going to let himself get carried around by a bunch of unknowns. Wakatoshi wouldn’t be like that, so Tooru decided that he wouldn’t either. He passed names, too many to count, but it seemed that finding these elusive team members was going to be harder than expected. Should he narrow his search to one at a time? No, that would make things impossible to search for only one name in a crowd of hundreds. 

Tooru would have mulled over this for longer if it wasn’t for the collision. 

When he realized that he had spaced out, Tooru’s first instinct was to punch the kid in the gut, but after realizing the stranger looked just as lost as him, Tooru decided to back down and  _ not  _ rely purely on fight or flight like a certain person named Wakatoshi that he knew. 

Taking a moment to figure out who he slammed into in order to apologize, Tooru found himself gazing at the sticker loosely slapped on his jacket. It looked like the boy, who Tooru had just processed had pink hair of all things, had stuck the name tag on without a second thought and headed off in search of his new team. Takahiro Hanamaki. The pink-haired fighter of the Komorebi team.

“Hey, wait, you’re the other fighter.” Takahiro said before Tooru had a chance to offer up something close to an apology. He was different than what Tooru had expected the other fighter to be, with pastel hair and something of an aloof look, but then again, Tooru wasn’t exactly the exact image of a fighter either. 

“I am. And you’re Hanamaki. It’s nice to meet you!” Tooru shook away the small amount of guilt he had about slamming into Hanamaki, but the other took it in stride and smiled. It was friendly, if not a little goofy, but welcoming nonetheless. Tooru really saw himself bonding with the other fighter. 

“Nah, don’t call me Hanamaki. Too formal, yunno? We should have some form of casualty if we’re fighting. Call me Takahiro, okay? And I’ll call you Tooru?”

Being so casual with someone he had just met was surprising for Tooru, but he figured that if he was going to be slaying demons and other creatures from the depths of hell, well, he should be on casual terms with the other. It would take some getting used to, especially because he was used to formality back home, but Tooru came here for the change. It was a good change.

“Sure. So, question for you Takahiro, what do you fight with?” Tooru asked, slightly turning on his heel to resume the search for his other teammates. Getting to know Takahiro in the process would be a good side activity while he looked for the two who were missing.

“A big ol’ scythe. My folks thought it was a dumb idea and insisted that I was gonna cut my head off, but I’m still here so jokes on them,” Takahiro answered as he followed in the steps that Tooru was taking. He was surprisingly nonchalant about talking about losing his head, but to each their own or something like that. 

“I’ve got a rapier. It’s custom made,” Tooru let his eyes scan across the crowd before Takahiro was off and running without a comment about Tooru’s custom made, diamond encrusted, rapier. A conversation for another time apparently.

“Tooru, bro, I found another guy!” Takahiro shouted, though he was only a few feet from Tooru at best. At the end of Takahiro’s arm was the collar of a shirt loosely balled into his fist. The wearer of said shirt was another boy who was round the same height as Takahiro, but with darker skin, curlier hair, and a really pissed off looking scowl. 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m Matsukawa. Can you let me go?” he spoke, softly for someone with a face that intimidating. Takahiro complied, but didn’t step away and didn’t lose the dumb smirk on his face. Tooru was scared to ask what he was thinking.

“Issei Matsukawa. Healer. The bulletin board said so,” Takahiro said, moreso to inform Tooru, who hadn’t searched for much more identification outside of names. Well, knowing he was the healer was a pretty good place to start, especially because of the aura Takahiro had around him was just dangerous. Issei was going to earn his keep quickly around this one.

“So you’re a  _ witch?”  _ Tooru asked, accidentally putting too much emphasis when he said witch. It wasn’t like Tooru was unfamiliar with the concept of a witch, but seeing them outside the towns with a large witch population was rare. Tooru knew some of their lore, but after actually meeting a witch in person, he decided that he wanted to learn more. This wasn’t the time. Later. Once they figured out who their strategist was.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t be able to heal you if I wasn’t. Then we’d all be dead,” he deadpanned without the expression on his face shifting. Tooru felt that this type of morbid humor was a little over his head, but Takahiro seemed to love it. Every second Tooru felt himself grow more fond of this eccentric fighter. 

“Okay but what kind of fighting can you do? Do you specialize in a type of magic?” Takahiro was basically interrogating the boy, but there was such a passion and fire in his eyes that Tooru didn’t really want to stop him. How could he when Issei was so willing to answer with what seemed to be just as much enthusiasm.

“In fights I use a lot of ice magic, so if you keep asking questions before dinner I’ll freeze your mouth shut.”

Maybe he wasn’t as enthusiastic as Tooru read him to be. Issei was turning out to be a harder book to read, but it wasn’t a disappointment to Tooru. It gave him more opportunity to read the boy’s character and study him. Dinner would give him the perfect chance to do so. 

“Speaking of dinner, it’s going to be served soon. Let’s find out strategist or we won’t make it past the first lessons,” Tooru injected, being met with a nod from Takahiro and a grunt from Issei. At least, Tooru thought it was a grunt. He couldn’t really tell since Issei seemed to lack emotion outside of the bored and ready to fall asleep category. They’d have to work on that.

At this point, most of the groups had found all the members and made their way out of the common hall and to the dining room. There wasn’t a solid schedule on when dinner would be served tonight, but Takahiro’s constant whining about how they’d be served cold food compelled Tooru to look harder. At least Issei was being quiet and (hopefully) content with the situation as he walked behind the two fighters.

While they searched, Tooru noticed a rather small boy yelling at his white-haired companion. He couldn’t make out the exact details of what was being said in the conversation, but it couldn’t have been good. Especially since the small one was flailing and bouncing like he was talking about something  _ really important.  _ He momentarily considered going and asking what was going on, but the snicker from Issei reminded him what the current goal was.

After walking the perimeter of the large commons, the three were back at the front of the room, where the stage was. It was where Tooru started the day, up on the stage reading the bulletin boards for the three names. He was about to give up hope when he noticed a figure on the stairs rifling through a stack of papers. All of Tooru’s instincts told him that this was a teacher. A very attractive teacher, but still a teacher. The strategist was gone, and Tooru was about to give up when Issei finally spoke.

“Wait. Iwaizumi? You’re our strategist? And you’ve been here?”

“Yeah.”

He certainly was blunt.

“We’ve been looking all over for you dude,” Takahiro managed to say just what Tooru was thinking. Minus the “dude”.

“I was looking for you too, but I couldn’t find you so I decided to sit here and wait,” Iwaizumi said, looking up at Takahiro. He seemed intimidating, but Takahiro remained unfazed. That would either be very useful in battle or it would get him killed with his final words being something like “that was awesome”. 

“He’s already making strategies. I think he’s going to be a keeper.”

Iwaizumi stood up then. He wasn’t as intimidating as he looked when seated due to his height, but the scowl on his face was even more severe than Issei’s, who in comparison just looked really tired.

“Yeah and judging by the look on his face I’m going to start healing soon,” Issei retorted with the same perpetual expression. Tooru was starting to wonder what it would be like to play cards or something against Issei. There was a chance he wasn’t the losing type with a poker face like that.

“Wait,  _ you’re  _ the fighter?” Iwaizumi asked Takahiro, paying no mind to the fact that Tooru looked more like the typical healer, but he wasn’t going to complain. The mixed look of shock and offense slowly illuminating Takahiro’s face was more than sufficient.

“I am a great fighter I’ll have you know!” Takahiro tried in vain to make a case for himself, but with the commons being more or less empty, the other three agreed that it was a perfect time to get headed to the dining hall and get dinner before being shown their dorm room.

Despite the various complaints from Takahiro, the dinner wasn’t cold. It was warm and filling and it was the perfect atmosphere to get to know one another better. Iwaizumi, who reluctantly agreed to being addressed by his given name, Hajime, grew up making strategies and incorporating unique elements that most people wouldn’t normally think of. Being a fighter, Tooru didn’t really understand just how impressive Hajime’s skills were. Until Takahiro asked where he grew up. It seemed like a throw away question, considering the school took people from all regions, but Hajime answered and Tooru listened.

“It’s kind of far away from here, but do you know the town named Kinallen?” He asked between bites of the roast chicken. Part of Tooru wondered if Hajime or Takahiro would get to the last bite, or if they’d fight over it.

“That small town known for having the best strategists in all of the land?” Issei asked, reaching over Takahiro to take the last slice of the cake. Hajime nodded.

“Yeah, exactly. That’s where I’m from, so we get taught so many different strategizing methods that your heads would fall off.”

For a moment, they were quiet. Takahiro and Issei because of the food they were eating, but Tooru because of the implication of what Hajime had just told them. When he was in school and they had lessons on the various cities on the continent, Kinallen was always one of the first to be brought up. While it wasn’t one of the largest cities, it  _ did  _ have the largest concentration of successful strategists. It was also a town known for many of the most famous strategists in both wartime and in the most notable of slaying cases. So many strategists have come out of Kinallen that only the best of the best are accepted into schools like this. So for Hajime to be here meant that he was one of the best strategists from Kinallen.

“That’s so cool,” Tooru breathed, but he didn’t get much of a thanks from Hajime. It must have been something he heard from so many different people, but Tooru didn’t mind. He genuinely believed that Hajime’s talent was cool. Amazing, even.

The group didn’t remain in the dining hall for much longer. It was starting to get late, and the next day was going to be the official start of their classes and various lessons. Even though Takahiro mostly objected heading to their dorm, Issei shoving leftovers into his shirt was more than enough to get him to cease his complaining. Tooru just made sure to politely reject any food Issei offered to him.

After both Issei and Takahiro were pleased with the amount of stolen food, they followed the stream of teams to where the first year dorms were. Room situations was one of the many aspects that set this school apart from the rest. Freshmen groups stayed together, the four members in a room with an adjoining room with a shared bathroom containing another group. In the following years, groups could separate and take two rooms, with two in one and two in the other. That was part of the reason why upperclassmen had wings separate from the new students.

Takahiro was the first to reach the door with boundless enthusiasm. He bounced around for a moment while trying to figure out a passcode to open the door, insisting that he would be able to do it without Issei’s magical help. It would have been a cute sight if Takahiro was a child, but he was supposed to be mature. Granted, Takahiro was probably the least mature out of all of them, but watching him try to spout random answers to random riddles was starting to get sad.

“Takahiro. Let… Let me do it,” Hajime finally said as he pushed the taller pink-haired boy out of the way. Issei cast a toothy grin to Takahiro, who couldn’t look sad when Issei was smiling at him.  _ How sweet  _ Tooru thought as he followed Hajime into the decently sized bedroom.

Their dorm room was the average size for what a dorm room should be. There were two twin sized beds on each side of the room, with a long window on the furthest wall. On Tooru’s right, there was the door that led to the bathroom they shared with the other team. He was tempted to look into it and see how much space he’d have to get beautiful each morning, but he needed to organize his clothes in the trunks they were supplied.

“Takahiro and I can take the beds on the left if you guys want the right,” Issei offered as Takahiro immediately running to the bed closest to the wall. Issei took the other and Tooru decided that he would take the bed across from Takahiro. He’d be sleeping in a bed next to Hajime. That was fine. Nerve wracking, because Hajime is the prettiest person Tooru has ever seen, but fine irregardless. Takahiro gave his companion a knowing grin, but said nothing as he crawled to the edge of his bed and opened the trunk.

“Sweet! All my stuff is here!” he remarked as he pulled out some brightly colored blankets and wrapped them around himself. All students were provided with a basic comforter, but were allowed to bring additional blankets and such. Takahiro seemed to bring enough blankets to make another bed. He’d never be cold, at least.

The other three followed Takahiro’s lead, something Tooru assumed that they would never be doing in battle, and grabbed extra blankets and pajamas to settle in for the night. In Tooru’s case, he was grabbing blankets and about three extra pillows. 

“Dude why do you have so many pillows? Are you giving them to poor children?” Takahiro asked after pulling his large tee-shirt on. Tooru turned, looking at the fort of pillows he had built.

“I need them,” Tooru answered with as much seriousness as Hajime earlier. It seemed like a plausible answer, as Takahiro just shrugged and crawled into bed under his mountain of blankets. Issei leaned over and turned the light off between them as Hajime did the same.

“Remember we have to get up early tomorrow,” Hajime announced to the dark. Tooru put a pillow over his head to block out any thoughts of how stressful the next day was going to be. He was going to need a whole lot of beauty sleep.

“Ugh,” Takahiro groaned from within his blankets. Issei, as per usual, said nothing. It was likely he had already fallen asleep. Tooru wished he was asleep too.

“Don’t whine Takahiro or else you won’t fall asleep,” Hajime ordered. Then he was asleep too. He was right though, and Tooru decided that sleeping was going to be the better than staying up and worrying about what kinds of messes he would be in the next day. So, he tried to sleep. It was fleeting, and danced around him, but eventually Tooru was able to find something close to sleep, even if it wasn’t for as long as he would’ve hoped.

 

\-----

 

When Tooru woke up, he was shivering. Apparently, Issei thought it would be funny to make the room as cold as possible to wake Tooru and Takahiro up. Hajime was coming from the bathroom, but he didn’t seem to shiver despite still having wet hair. That boy was an enigma.

“I’m up! Please dude I’m freezing my balls off!” Takahiro cried from within the blankets. Tooru sat up as well, darting to the bathroom in hopes of it being warmer than the bedroom was.

He reached the barely warm bathroom and slammed the door behind him before what was left of the heat escaped. Tooru was able to take a moment to wake up and warm up before the other door was opened and he was faced with a sight he was trying his best to escape. It was Wakatoshi, who looked just as stunned as Tooru felt.

“Oh  _ hell  _ no,” Tooru breathed, before opening the door and slamming it shut behind him. He dressed quickly, ignoring his roommates while he planned a schedule for using the bathroom. There was no way he was going to be acknowledging he was sharing a bathroom with Wakatoshi of all people.

God forbid if they shared classes too.


	2. Kaizen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Kaizen must have been thrust together when four people were too out of place to be put anywhere else. That was the only explanation Keiji had come up with. Working together was impossible, and working around the boisterous personalities of his teammates was a death sentence. No matter what happened, Keiji felt that this group would be the end of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second stand alone story! The only knowledge that would come from the first chapter is that Tooru's team is named Komorebi, but this can still be read independently. If you haven't checked out Casey's character artwork (for when they're older in the series), be sure to head over to his Instagram! I'll leave his username down below. As always, enjoy!!!

Whoever put this team together must have been crazy to think that this group would work well for countless years. Keiji tried his best to formulate a strategy that would show off the strengths of his team or whatever it was that Koutarou and Tetsurou wanted, but they didn’t want to listen to a plan that made sense and would have won them a victory. Why would they? That would have been too obvious.

Keiji thanked whatever gods there were that this wasn’t a real battle, but he also cursed them. The first training battle where they had to face another team at a “similar” skill level and it seemed like they were severely outmatched. The fighters, composed of an overzealous boy with brown hair and terrible boots as well as another boy with pink hair and a scythe that would  have been in better hands with Koutarou, were actually competent. The strategist was a bulky kid that would have been better suited as a fighter, but he actually scared Keiji. There was such a high chance that he had formulated a winning plan that Keiji was contemplating giving up. On the bright side (if there even was one), the healer looked just as tired as Kenma.

All the groups knew that they would be fighting for both bragging rights and a good grade, but Tetsurou and Koutarou would rather tease the brown-haired fighter about his outfit. Sure, it was a little ridiculous for the battlefield, but teasing him about it wasn’t going to make this situation any better or even alter the outcome. If he had  _ any  _ sense, Keiji would have stopped them, but he also knew that they wouldn’t listen to him. Better to just watch them get the boy mad and then get themselves beat up. Kenma probably wouldn’t have healed them if they did.

Though the teachers hadn’t signaled the official start of the practice battle yet, Koutarou and Tetsurou were already doing some pretty serious trash talk. It was being dished back just as hard, but all it did was make Keiji roll his eyes. Making a strategy around this behavior was going to be the biggest challenge he’d ever have to face here. Not the daunting project that was supposed to come up in their third year. No, this had to take the cake.

With a characteristic sigh, Keiji called his useless teammates to him. He was going to have to somewhat discuss the meager amount of strategy he had come up with. If the other three would cooperate, then maybe that would be made a little easier than it was at present. It was taking a lot of Keiji’s patience to not shoot them with the rubber bullets he had been supplied by the school for these practice fights. Luckily, Kenma seemed to sense Keiji’s growing agitation and dragged the two over to the private corner. Already, a crowd of students were gathering around the roped off area. They were interested in seeing what the first of many practice battles would look like. All it did was make Keiji’s stomach churn uncontrollably. 

“What’d ya want, Keiji?” Koutarou asked as he ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. Keiji would’ve appreciated it any other time, but this was not the time to stare. People were counting on him. His  _ grade  _ was counting on him.

“We haven’t talked strategy. We should probably do that unless you want to look like fools,” Keiji answered, shifting his weight onto one leg. He wanted to look as calm and collected as possible. If he let the slightest amount of anxiety show it would be an opening for the other team to take advantage of. It was an upper hand that could cost his own team the victory.

“You seem nervous.”

Keiji let out a much longer sigh than he anticipated. Kenma was more observant than he led people to believe. It was both a blessing and a curse. Mostly a curse when the observations were aimed at Keiji himself.

“I am. Their strategist worries me,” Keiji answered softly.

“Why?” Kenma again. What a nice boy.

“There’s a city that always raises the best strategists. It’s where he’s from. Normally, I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but I think I’m overthinking the situation as a whole. Worrying that his strategy will be more detailed than ours. Things like that.”

Keiji had turned away when he spoke. Above everything, he didn’t want to be seen as weak in the eyes of his team. Or unimaginative. This was his team, and he needed to be strong for them. He needed to give this his all, or he wouldn’t be able to do this properly in the future.

“Don’t worry! It’s practice, and we’ll have so much time to change how we work that this barely counts,” Tetsurou finally spoke up. He was more or less the team leader, and this fact made Keiji feel a little more at ease. Though he could be as absentminded as Koutarou, he seemed to know the exact way to calm down the other members of his team. He really was a perfect leader.

“Yeah! Besides, there’s no way our Keiji will steer us in the wrong direction!” Koutarou exclaimed as he slapped a hand on Keiji’s shoulder, jolting the boy slightly. Koutarou usually forgot his own strength.

The support of his team gave Keiji the motivation he thought he had lost. Even if his strategy actually turned out to fail, he felt confident enough to lay the plan out. Starting with the brown-haired boy, who Koutarou said was named Tooru. Maybe all that trash talking really was for the best. They would start by going for Tooru, and then getting the strategist last. Keiji didn’t know if the plan was going to be a success, but no matter what he was confident in the abilities of his team.

 

The plan was not a success. Though they fought with everything they had, Hajime’s superior planning almost guaranteed the opposing team a victory. In the early beginnings of the fight, Keiji thought that Koutarou and Tetsurou gained the upper hand against Tooru, but in reality he was playing decoy as the other fighter showed his true prowess with the scythe. Keiji realized then and there that underestimating him was a mistake. A mistake that he was hellbent on not making again. 

As soon as Koutarou was distracted, that gave Tooru time to show his actual fighting power. His rapier was definitely not for show. After separating Koutarou and Tetsurou, victory was swift. In these practice battles, the winning condition was to land a non lethal blow on the opponent. Therefore, whoever was hit would be the loser. Both Koutarou and Tetsurou were weak in one-on-one combat, and it wasn’t before long until they were both hit and out. With no fighters and only a few more rubber bullets, Keiji decided that surrender might be the best decision.

He was about to yell surrender when he felt the hairs on the back of neck stand on end. A lightning bolt shot past him and collided with Hajime, who was in the back, sending him flying backwards and knocking the air from his lungs. With such a promising strategist out of the fight, everything stilled. Keiji turned, chest heaving, to meet his gaze with Kenma’s. The boy was flushed and panting. It seemed that he accidentally used an attack stronger than anticipated.

“Whoops,” he whispered, fiddling with his fingers. Even Tooru and Takahiro were stunned. The odds were not in Keiji’s favor, but Kenma’s sudden burst of energy left him with a swelling of pride in his chest. Behind them, Koutarou and Tetsurou were cheering and whooping.

Kenma’s magic helped get the other team’s healer, Issei, out and gave Keiji the boost of confidence he needed. They were able to hold their own against Tooru and Takahiro for a while as well, but the two fighters had such a way of fighting together that they were almost unstoppable, and when Takahiro’s scythe grazed the skin of Kenma’s arm, Keiji knew it was over.

He fought like he had never fought before, but the flurry of attacks from the other two proved to be superior against a few rubber bullets. Keiji felt the tip of the rapier gently pressed against his armor, and it was over. Team Komorebi won, and Keiji let his boys down. Panting and exhausted, he went to the other three to see the grade they had received.

Komorebi got an A, which wasn’t surprising considering the skill of the fighters, but what did surprise Keiji was his own team’s grade. It was a low B, but they proved their skills and Keiji proved he knew what he was doing and it was worth a passing grade. Never in all of his years had Keiji felt so proud.

Almost singing with the good news surrounding their grade, the team made their way to one of the many bathhouses to relax and rest sore muscles. Kenma had healed his own wound, and soon enough they were all in a small bath house and playing with bubbles like they were children all over again.

Koutarou was in the middle of making a rather impressive bubble beard when Tetsurou leaned over and wiped it off, saying he was “helping him shave” because no one wanted to see Koutarou with a beard. Keiji stayed quiet during that exchange, but he couldn’t help but agree there. The other fighter didn’t look good with a beard. During all of this, Keiji began to realize why they were grouped together. Tetsurou brought Kenma out of his shell, and the way that Koutarou and Keiji were able to feed off of each other granted them strength on and off the battlefield. 

Working together may have been a weak point within the group thus far, but right here in the bath house, Keiji noticed how when they weren’t all so stressed they really did make a perfect team. Granted, he was seeing this through a bubble fight that was going to end up with the suds in someone’s eyes, but if they were able to work together here, Keiji felt that they would be able to work together anywhere. He just needed to make sure they weren’t so nervous before one of these godforsaken practice fights.

“Keiji you should help me out!” Koutarou shouted through Keiji’s running thoughts. He could head the sloshing of the water and laughter from Koutarou before he realized that his friend was being overpowered by Kenma and Tetsurou. Two on one? Not fair.

Right now, Keiji blocked out the negative thoughts from the loss as he surged forward to splash Kenma right in the face. The four had their battle until the water was cold and poor Kenma was shivering. It was late then, and they decided to get out and dry off and change into the pajamas they had all brought with them. It was quiet during this time, and was broken only after they left the bath house.

“You know, I don’t think we’ve ever worked that well together,” Keiji observed. In the darkness, he made note of how both Tetsurou and Koutarou nodded.

“I don’t think we’re used to working with others yet. Like, I don’t want Koutarou stealing my thunder!” Tetsurou noted, slapping his friend on the back. Koutarou rocked forward slightly, but he laughed nonetheless.

“Me steal your thunder? I always thought it was the other way around!”

“Either way,” Keiji interrupted, leading the group through the halls and to their shared room, “we need to work together and you two  _ do  _ work well together. We just need a different strategy.”

The four spent the rest of the way to the room talking strategy and previous fighting experience. Keiji couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of such a crucial detail until now, but he was glad he finally remembered. Koutarou was the designated hunter in his hometown, and Tetsurou had a strange affinity of brawling, which gave them at least some fighting experience. Keiji now knew that they’d need to focus their training on working with others. Kenma was a harder case, as he was shy and not the most confident, but he had a strong magical ability that could save them when they were in a tough situation. Keiji knew to utilize that if they ran out of options otherwise.

“So, we’re gonna be able to challenge them again, right?” Koutarou asked into the darkness once the planning had been completed. On his bedside table, Keiji had a list of training they would do each day to better themselves for the upcoming fights.

“Yeah, I think so. Why?”

“I just can’t wait to make some custom moves with Tetsurou.”

“You and me both, bro! I’ve already got some ideas!”

This sparked a whole new outlet of conversation for the boys, despite being on opposite sides of the room. It could have gone on for hours if Kenma hadn’t thrown a pillow at Tetsurou. It missed and bounced off the headboard, but the message was clear.

“We’ll talk about custom moves tomorrow. I’m sleepy,” he mumbled, cuddling into the pillow clutched to his chest. At that point, no one could make a noise, or else they would face the wrath of a Kenma armed with both pillows and powerful lightning magic. Keiji had a strong suspicion that he was proficient in other types of magic, but Kenma was the humble type. It was best to sleep and then work this information out of Kenma at another time.

 

Another time came over the next few weeks. Keiji knew that his team would have the option of rematching the Komorebi team, and all four members of team Kaizen. For one,  Koutarou and Tetsurou were the type of people who refused to accept a loss, and to a lesser extent Keiji and Kenma had the same mentality. Losing again was not in the foreseeable future.

Combining some of the eccentricities of his teammates into a well thought out strategy was hard for Keiji, but countless nights were spent under his comforter with nothing more than a small light and the strategy guide. These nights Keiji worked until his eyelids grew heavy with sleep and eventually forced him to succumb to the need. Those were the mornings when Keiji was the last to rise. The mornings when the other three would quietly slip out to breakfast and bring back as much food as they could steal. For Kenma particularly, it was difficult, but they tried their best. Keiji was grateful for the consideration his teammates showed him. It propelled him forward, creating a strategy where both Koutarou and Tetsurou could use the full extent of their strength without either wearing out, and where Kenma could use his shy nature to his advantage. His lightning and arcane magic would be what they would use to surprise enemies. Keiji couldn’t wait.

In weeks time, the teams were back on the familiar battlefield. The first round of practice matches were over, and though placings couldn’t be changed, rematches were allowed for the teams that wanted to reclaim any honor that was personally lost. Kaizen wasn’t here to reclaim honor. No, they were here to prove that they were competent and not an disorganized mess.

Those were the only thoughts that filtered through Keiji’s mind as the teacher signaled the begin of the match. Koutarou and Tetsurou had shared a quick look before nodding at Keiji and surging forward. The trash talk was eliminated, which pleased Keiji to no end. He watched with gun at the ready as the two fighters went first for Takahiro, making quick work of him, and then heading to Tooru. 

Just as he was the first time they fought, Tooru was a stronger opponent than anticipated, but Keiji suspected that the combined strength and efforts of Koutarou and Tetsurou could get the job done. Plus, part of Kenma’s arcane magic could temporarily stun Tooru, which Keiji was grateful for knowing.

Tooru was out quickly after Kenma made use of his magic. At that point, Hajime and Issei realized something was wrong and the two made their way for Kenma to disable him. Keiji suspected this would happen, and despite the fact that Hajime was able to disable Koutarou, he had managed to fire a few successful shots at Issei. 

Three members of team Komorebi were sitting on the sidelines when Kenma joined Koutarou on their side of the field. At this point, Keiji had to reload quickly and aim even faster. It was down to both him and Tetsurou. They  _ needed  _ to do this. With newfound synchronization, Tetsurou and Keiji went in to land that final blow. It was all like a dream until the teacher blew the whistle and it was all over. 

Cheers and screams erupted from the crowd that had gathered while Koutarou and Kenma ran to engulf the remaining two team members in a bone-crushing hug. Even the defeated members of team Komorebi came to congratulate the team on their newfound strength and victory. They were met with smiles and hugs as a way of saying thank you.

In the midst of the hugs and affection from his team, Keiji’s thoughts of how incompatible these four were became a vague memory. Dissipating like steam, never to be seen again. Getting to this point was difficult and cost Keiji sanity and hours of sleep, but when he looked at the smiling and proud faces around him, he was able to agree with whoever put this team together. That person really knew what they were doing as team Kaizen was assembled. Keiji had never been more grateful in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> starxprince on Instagram is Casey!!


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